I can’t imagine a life without books!
My earliest memory of a book is a Wizard of Oz colouring book from my nursery years. I can still recall the wonder of turning the pages and looking at the pictures while my mother read aloud to me.
After this my childhood seems to be marked by a series of books – school readers were quickly succeeded by the world of the local library opening up to me; Greek myths, Bobby Brewster, Dr Seuss… We could take three books out at one time and I made sure I took three and returned to change them as soon as I had finished.
Non-fiction was covered by an atlas, a history through the ages book and a large hardback encyclopaedia which taught me everything from historical figures to the names of the different clouds, information which I still retain now.
I also discovered, in my early childhood, an attic at my Aunt’s house containing boxes of Whizzer and Chips and The Beano as well as old copies of Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and a few poetry and short story books. I was given these books which I treated as precious objects despite it being several years before I was able to actually read and appreciate them!
These books, along with some other significant ones have remained with me through several changes of house; when my children were old enough I bought new bookshelves and filled them with my precious books along with a library worth. They have lived the lives of the characters of “What Katy Did”, the “Little House” books and “Golden Deeds of Muslims”.
My children have inherited a love of books for which I am so thankful. Although it worried me when my youngest reached eight without the slightest interest in reading, preferring instead to play. Then one day she discovered a set of Malory Towers stories by Enid Blyton and her life was transformed! She experienced new worlds opening up before her and her delight was a joy to see. Her sisters sometimes tell her how lucky she is that she still has whole unread book series ahead of her that they have long finished.
Reading has helped her writing as well although the lure of reading a book usually prevails over the keyboard so her ideas don’t get written as much as they should. She had to write about the Prophet Noah once for a speech competition; as well as the commentary of the Holy Quran she used books produced by the Women’s department of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association and her resulting speech became a thriller with heartache and rising waters!
The children have all produced amazing stories through their time in school and their knowledge and understanding of the world through reading inspires them to write. Their writing has been fun, informative, sometimes gruesome but always interesting.
A head teacher once told me how she always emphasised the importance of reading to give a solid base for when children began to write. “They will go along writing ordinary stories until suddenly they’ll write something that will bring tears to your eyes.” And they have.
Books, whether the tactile nature of paper or even on a screen are indeed a treasure and should be valued as such.
quillandinkandparchment 